From The Warp
by Norse Raider
Summary: Time kills all things, but man has always tried to fight his fate. But is the Imperium's final gambit their salvation, or the damnation of all that they cling to.
1. Imperium

Disclaimer: I do not own any franchise used in this story

AN: Alright, this was how I pictured the end of the Imperium building up. So this is in fact the prequel to the last chapter. I wasn't planning on putting it up, but there were enough statements about canon that I will.

Man was a beast like no other. Intelligent, numerous, strong. All these words could be used to describe them. Bloodthirsty, lusting, chaotic, diseased. These words too could describe that great beast that was man. He was his own salvation and damnation. In the grim darkness of space he relied only on his own strength and that of his brothers. But it was not enough.

First came the Crusade. That conglomerate of evil that was Chaos swarmed across the galaxy, cutting a bleeding wound through the body of the Imperium. The endless tides of men, twisted by the foul desires and evil within themselves tore apart their brothers, consumed men, soldiers, armies, and worlds. They were an unstoppable force. But they were their own undoing. As they cut apart the Imperium of Man their own power lessened, for the Ruinous Gods drew their strength from the warp, fueled by the darkness within men. The Crusade only weakened them. But that would have meant nothing, for their strength would have returned with the rise of Chaos worshipers, but the galaxy was far from calm.

Mere weeks after the blade of Chaos had blunted itself upon the Imperium did both fall under attack by a WAAGH of immense proportions, a force gathered together by the machinations of the Eldar for the sole purpose of driving might Chaos to its knees, in hopes of weakening the foul Slannesh. This mighty horde tore through the Chaos legions and Imperial defenses alike, scattering them as leaves in the wind. Of the four Imperial Segmentum two were in disarray. The blood spilled weakened the warp even more as the source of its power waned. Its greatest source of power for the first time significantly reduced. But it, Chaos, and the Imperium of Man would have all survived even this. But then they arrived.

On the other side of the vast Imperium a terrible enemy, implacable, unreasonable, and unstoppable. Tyranids. The Hive fleet infected worlds with its foul strength, consuming them whole and moving onward. With the reserve fleets stripped from the Segmentum for use against the forces of Chaos and the Orks they were unable to drive off the insectoid creatures that rampaged across their worlds. Soon the fleet had grown large enough that it threatened the last unchallenged Segmentum. With all four major Imperial forces in conflict men died by the trillions every day. Everyday the foul forces of the warp could draw upon less power, as the men of the Imperium were lost to them. Sadly this did nothing to stop the Tyranid advance. They moved across the galaxy in an unstoppable wave. All they faced fell. Through fate or by virtue of intelligence, they avoided Holy Terra and her mighty fleets, instead moving across the sides of the galaxy. In the face of the endless hordes of Tyranids there was but one solution for the Imperium. The massive forces arrayed against them could only be stopped in one way. Exterminatus. The utter annihilation of all life on a planet. And thus the Imperial forces pulled back to her core, using whatever means at their disposal to deny their own planets to the enemy. Cyclonic torpedoes, virus bombs, warp rifts. All these methods and more were used for the destruction of the planets of the Imperium. The losses experienced by the Imperium were immense. But it was still not enough. Though the Orks and Chaos were either destroyed by the destruction of the planets or by consumption into the Tyranid flee the powerful monsters drove deep into the Imperium, their bio ships enabling them to escape to space unlike the orks who needed their spores to land on a planet and their lack of dependance on the warp allowing them to ignore its weakening.

To stop this foe the Imperium used its full might, the remains of the fleets from four Segmentum and one fleet from the defense of Holy Terra. The Tyranids were ended in a cataclysmic battle that lead to the near destruction of Imperial forces. Their forces and strength reduced to a level that had not been experienced since the Emperor took charge of Holy Terra and mankind. Though they had destroyed their greatest enemies they were weakened to a level that could barely be comprehended. They worked furiously to recover. It was not enough.


	2. Survival

Disclaimer: I own neither Mass Effect or Warhammer 40k

AN: For those of you familiar with 40k note that I have this set about ten thousand years in the future, so things have changed. The absence of some races will be explained. Eventually.

It was the fifty second millennium, and there was only war. A war that the Imperium was losing, their forces scattered and in disarray, their enemies joining together to destroy them and their faith flagging. But the war was not over yet. Fabricator General Apparatus Vultus had brought together great resources, in the form of both supplies and men, for one final chance for mankind. Even as the mighty Xenos war machine neared the Sol System Mars was bustling with their final preparations. Great clamps of metal locked the mighty shipyards of Mars to its surface, their dry-docks holding the greatest ships mankind had ever developed. The surface now held the entirety of the remaining Adeptus Astartes, as much of the Imperial Guard as possible, all of the STC ever discovered and every piece of technological data from every forge world spread across the Imperium. Most importantly there was a singular relic moved to Mars; the Golden Throne, with the God-Emperor still entombed within. These mighty resources would be the source of the continuation of mankind, for the rebirth of the Imperium of Man. But they were not the plan, for even their might could not stop the force approaching. The plan was far more devious, if extremely risky. After all, the enemy couldn't kill them _if they weren't there_. And so for the last millennium the Imperium had enacted a holding action to allow the creation of massive warp drives, drives big enough to move even Mars through space and time. And it was time for their launch.

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Eldar Farseer Loth'endil was confident in her fleet as they neared the Imperium's home system. The combination of Eldar and Tau forces had allowed for them to gain the upper hand in this long war and now it was coming to culmination. Her visions had shown her that this was to be the end of the war, that after this final bastion of the Mon Keigh was destroyed there would be nothing left but to mop up the orks who would be unable to stand against the full force of the Eldar and Tau. It was this vision that led to the truly massive Tau Eldar fleet to be gathered for the sole purpose of the removal of humanity from the galaxy. With the voices of the Immaterium telling her the war was almost over and the massive fleet moving to Sol Loth'endil was completely confident that this day would be humanities last.

"Farseer, we are moments from our arrival, shall I call our forces to attention?"

"Yes Exarch, for the last time let us go to war." The Exarch let a psykic call ring out from her mind, calling to all Eldar to ready them for the assault.

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Ethereal Aun'shi stood behind the fleet's Tau commander, waiting to see the end of those who opposed the Greater Good. He and all Tau had long waited for the day when the Imperium would cease to oppose them and with their Eldar allies Aun'shi was sure that the day had come.

"Lord Ethereal, we are about to exit to real-space in Imperium territory, is there anything you would like to say to our men, it would raise their spirits to hear your voice call to them." Aun'shi smiled at the words of his commander.

"Yes, I have words that the honorable warriors of Tau deserve to hear. Put me on all channels." The Ethereal waited as his commander set the communications so that he could speak to the mighty war-host gathered for the Greater Good. "Warriors of Tau, on this day we fight to end this war, so that those who would oppose the Greater Good may never do so, for the Greater Good this battle will be ours and with it the we shall take our place in history as the ones who secured victory this day. Prepare warriors of Tau, for today we enter battle!" With a motion of his hand the Ethereal had his commander end the transmission.

"We are entering real-space now Lord Ethereal, all ships are ready for this final battle."

"Good. Let us begin."

The great war-host appeared at the edge of Sol System, as close as their warp drives could get them to what the humans called 'Holy Terra'. They had no idea what the outcome of this expedition was to be.

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"Fabricator General, the enemy has entered the system. Their fleet is massive, nearly one hundred thousand ships of cruiser class or greater and they must have nearly a million escort class ships. Estimated ETA comes in at just under two hours." The general narrowed his eyes at his Magos' report, there was not enough time to finish plotting the course through the warp before they got here and he wasn't fool enough to assume they could hold out very long against such a massive fleet.

"It seems we will have to trust the will of the Emperor. Fire up the war drives."

"But sir, the calculations aren't complete, we have no way of knowing where we'll end up and that's assuming we aren't torn apart in the warp. Even with our navigators guiding an object of this size through the warp is an immense undertaking. Directing it without months of planning and calculations would be impos..."

"The Geller Fields we've installed upon Mars are unlike any other ever built Magos, their size and scope is by far greater than that of any thing to ever exist. With the Emperor's blessing, we will make it through. Run vectors that will allow us to move with universal drift and begin the start up sequences, that should enable us to keep a good relative position and should be well within our time constraints. Go immediately, I must tend to the Machine Spirit's rituals." Even though he was clearly still unconvinced the Magos none the less followed the commands of the Fabricator General, starting up the massive reactors that powered the drive system.

"Power readings are increasing as expected, all generators are online, systems are stable and should be ready to be engaged within the hour." The Fabricator General nodded in response to the words of his subordinate as he began to pray to the Omnissiah. He could feel the steady thrum of power being to flow through the massive structure that he was in, the generators below him putting out more power than could even be recorded. He knew that all he could do now was wait and hope.

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The great war-host was deep into the Sol system now, fully prepared for the end. And it was coming, they just didn't know how badly it would end.

"We are about an hour out Farseer, but we are detecting massive power readings from the fourth planet in the system, possibly a last ditch attempt to hold the system against us."

"Let them try, it will do them no good. Contact the fleet, let us destroy this petty defense now before we assault their home-world." The fleet turned to Mars, moving at their maximum speed towards the end.

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"Drives are ready for launch."

"Engage." Across Mars tens of thousands of members of the Adeptus Mechanicus moved to start the launch. And then in a single moment, the drives came to life.

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Mars was surrounded in a furious field of energy as the warp began to take it into itself, the violent energies of the warp striking at the massive Geller Fields that made up Mars' defenses. The Fields held strong and the warp could not strike at the world. But the Eldar and Tau were not so lucky. The amount of raw power needed to allow an object the size of Mars to enter the warp was immense and led to the warps twisted energies spreading across the entire system, striking at everything in range. However, unlike Mars, the Eldar and Tau ships were unable to survive the violence of the warp's fury and were twisted and rent asunder. Nothing small enough to be based upon a ship could have held aganist the sheer pressure of the warp as it tore through the system, scarring planets and destroying anything it could touch. Not a single piece of the Eldar Tau fleet survived the massive surge of warp energy. In a single moment the greatest power in the galaxy was crippled, and the Imperium escaped to live another day.

AN: Alright, had to get that out, it was making it impossible to finish my next chapter of Assassin Amongst the Stars, every time I sat down to work on it this would pop up in my head. Don't expect mass effect to be fully canon when I get to it, though I will actually be explaining while keeping certain things true. (Like how they find the Prothean tech but Mars isn't there.


	3. Revival

Disclaimer: I own neither series used here.

AN: Here's where Mass-Effect comes in

For the men and women of Mars it was almost thirteen years before they'd exit the Warp. The Tech-priests had been fairly successful in plotting a course that had accounted for galactic drift. Though they couldn't know it they were had managed to stay within the constantly moving galaxy for over a million years.* With their supplies running low Mars turned to its vast production facilities to create billions of vat clones and turn them into servitors. As the servitors were produced they were thrown into the massive warships of the Imperium and sent off in search of planets suitable for conversion to agricultural and hive worlds. It took time, but over decades the servitors constructed dozens of agricultural worlds and equally many hive worlds. As time passed a consensus was formed within the Imperium. Though weakened they will not end here. With its infrastructure finally at a level where it can sustain itself the trillion Guardsmen brought during the escape spread to the worlds of the Imperium and the Imperial Navy begins to reform. With its new center at Mars the Imperium of Man is reborn.

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Without the power of the God Emperor of Mankind upon his throne the foul Eldritch abominations within the bowels of Holy Terra burst forth, twisting the world that had once been the pedestal the man looked to with awe and joy into a darkened world where all life fled, the air and seas turned primordial once more, the land turned molten and reformed. It was in truth the place where things went to die. But it was too tempting a prize for man. For endless millennium the fractured remnants of man fought to reclaim their once great home even as it fell to legends. It would not be claimed so easily however; for nearly a million years it stood empty, turned to mere stories. Yet these stories were all that was left of man. Till finally one day the last of man's once galaxy spanning fleet dove into that wretched place of darkness and finally drove it out. But man had lessened over the countless years and lost that intelligence and technology that had once made him master of the galaxy. Time ground all man's creation to dust, and left them to survive on their ruined world with nothing.

But man was used to hardship and slowly the dead world returned to its state of old. The primitive man began to live once more, to reforge the strength that had once governed his existence. The legends of old continued to sustain them, the planetary bodies becoming gods and given names. Those bodies closer to the Sun became Venus and Mercury. Those farther became Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.* Man grew to regain the glory that he once had and followed his own legend into space. And so on the planet that they dubbed Mars came what they proclaimed to be the greatest discovery in the history of man. An alien observatory and with it Element Zero and mass effect, the ability to alter gravity with but electrical current. To them this discovery was revolutionary, a change to their whole view of the universe. Suddenly it was possible to move past Einsteins Laws of Relativity and Sir Issac Newton's laws of Motion. Suddenly the stars beyond their home system became the newest frontier. Dozens of ships equipped with new Element Zero drives were prepared for exploration. But then from the bowels of Mars came another discovery. Floating in orbit around Pluto was an artifact of these aliens who had once looked upon them and their world. A massive construct for the near-instantaneous movement of matter, of ships. Using this device mankind spread amongst the stars, expanding ever outwards. But as he did he found he was not alone.

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Lord Captain Ferrus Alentus of the Imperial Navy cut an imposing figure. Nearly seven feet tall and with the grave countenance befitting one so experienced as he the Lord Captain was a terrifying sight. Having a long service record that took him through a crusade and having survived even the cataclysmic battle with the Tyranid hordes that nearly ended the Imperium had earned him that right. Sadly it had also left him with nothing to do. Since Mars left the Warp his duties had solely consisted of exploration for finding new worlds with which to rebuild the Imperium. For him, who had not left the front lines of battle since his induction into the Navy it was as near hell as he could be. It was for this reason that as he sat upon his command chair it took physical effort not to simply give the order to open fire upon the unknown vessels across from him. His astropaths were working to determine just what they were dealing with and his orders were to avoid conflict where possible as the Imperium was in state for a war. But that didn't mean it was easy. No, holding the order to fire was quite possibly the most difficult thing he had ever done.

"Have those astropaths finished their examination yet?" When he didn't receive a response he turned to his officer only to see him whispering with one of the astropaths. The man turned to him, almost in shock.

"Sir, they're human." Alentus's eyes widened. Human.

"Open a channel, try and identify the variation of Low Gothic that they use. Let our brothers rejoin this glorious Imperium."

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The annexation of the Systems Alliance into the Imperium of Man had gone about a smoothly as one could expect. That is to say, the Imperium forced it through extreme violence and subjugation. The planets under the control of the Systems Alliance fell one by one into the hands of the Imperium. Some fought, others yielded but it was all the same in the end. All humanity unified itself once more under the double headed Imperial Eagle. While many worlds did not fully adopt the ways of the Imperium* they all fell under its shadow. And so it came to be that in the year 2176 CE when the Citadel exploration team entered the Shanxi System they came across the Imperial Hive World Shanxi Four.

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*The planetary body that became known as Mars was actually a smashed together amalgam of materials that had existed in the warp in the place that Mars had originally existed. The sudden absence of so much mass in the universe had caused an equal amount to displace itself from the warp. It was here that over a million years later the Protheans would build their observatory.

*It should be noted that the Imperium existed during the period of the Reapers, however the original Empire of Man (Or whatever they called themselves) from before the Dark Age of Technology had fought and weakened them during their cycle. However as a final blow the Reapers forced the Iron Men into sentience which was the cause of the fall of the Empire of Man.

*For those not in the know time moves differently in the Warp. (Good thing to, else this story wouldn't quite work)

AN: After this point the chapters will start to pick up, become longer and get some action. Till now I've been looking at big picture but I finally get to look at some changes, characters and action now.


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